6/14/12

Dharma Talk, May 14, 2012: Just This Mind

Okay we're going
to continue on with The Mind of Chinese Chan. Essentially as
you go through all the different teachings it's all the same thing;
it's all talking about mind, pointing at mind, seeing what mind is
and as you practice this and you look into it, you begin to
understand that all of these things are all interconnected.

In the beginning
it doesn't seem that way but later it is. The way they're
interconnected is they're different facets of the same diamond. As we
talk as presenters, we're hoping that one day once facet will shine
very brightly for you and that it will gain entry for you. Sometimes
somebody will write me or talk to me after a class or something and
say "I heard this and that really made sense to me" and
they were able to go right through to it and that's good.

Other times people
will say "I don't get it, I didn't really understand that"
but it still is what I keep saying as money in the bank. Sitting to
meditate is money in the bank. If you you're working towards
something even if you're not doing it too well, there maybe one day
you might run into somebody who will be able to tweak your practice
just a little bit to enable you to penetrate further in.

When we talk about
penetration, the words I say are very, very important. The words
themselves are not significant. The significance is the impact it has
on your investigation. There is a time when all of a sudden something
will ring very, very clearly and you will be able to enter by way
of principle -- meaning that you begin to understand more how the
mind works. That will enable you to use that principle in your
meditation.

Sometimes you may
be struck dumbfounded by the whole thing and that's not bad either as
long as you're not attached to any kind of the special circumstance
that arises. Whatever circumstances that arise in your meditation
while you're sitting, they're just really the signposts that indicate
you're heading in the right way. But if you hold onto those
particular experiences and realizations, then one begins to get a
taste for those realizations and not a taste for the practice.

We need to have a
taste for the practice and not a taste of a mind of acquisition. When
we have a mind of acquisition, it is very difficult for us to
practice because we have of mind that is constantly looking for
something that we can cling to or something we can put down.

The funny thing
about mind is just this mind and you keep hearing them say
"just this mind." But then you go what is this mind?
What is this mind and we keep missing it. We keep using our
consciousness to look for things and you miss the mind as if it's
some kind of superhero superimposed on a screen and he's there
looking for the source of his powers not really understanding that
without the screen there would be no him and that he's actually an
illusion.

But to say that
doesn't really bring you to realization and sometimes it brings the
ego to discomfort because the ego is afraid of letting go. The ego is
that which doesn't want to let go of its hold over the mind and the
only way it can perpetuate itself is by constantly requiring that all
phenomena filter through it. And we become very, very good at doing
that and a result of that we no longer can recognize the true way the
mind functions. Instead, we send it through this illusory being we
call our ego and that kind of colors the whole world and makes
decisions based on its idea of what it needs which is generally based
on desires, vexations, cravings and discriminations so it tends to
mess things up.

So when you begin
to see that the mind works clearly without this ego, it still
functions good. People will not go "there goes the man with no
name." They're still going to call you by your name but the only
difference is that the way that you see the world is not through
discrimination but by mind itself. When it does that it engages the
world in a very natural way. That's the way it should be.

Can you imagine
about things that happened to you before? Is there anything that
you'd like to rewind and have the mind engage the situation rather
than your ego? Was it something that you said, something that you did
or shouldn't have done, all these different kinds of things that you
kind of say "well the ego didn't really need to be there or
didn't have to say that or do that?" When you look at it, it
could be as little as something you ate, it could be something that
you said to somebody. But when you see it you begin to recognize
"wait a second, who's really running the show?"

Chan is a method
of recognizing that the mind works in a particular way and that we
have an ability to tweak the program. By tweaking program, we begin
to tweak out instances of the ego and we just allow the mind to
function naturally. It is very scary for us in the beginning because
"if I'm not here, what is it going to be?" The mind that
you're using right now, this very, very mind that believes that it's
ego-driven is not in fact ego-driven, it is just mind.

But we have had
somebody sometimes what we call the notion of the host of the
house and the guest. I have one of my workers at work who
invited his brother over (not really invited the brother, the brother
invited himself to her house) as he was house-hunting. So he and his
girl friend moved in. They've been house-hunting for many, many, many
months now but he has made use of her entire house and they feel very
comfortable in the house. The only thing is that he is not the owner
of the house but he acts like he's the owner of the house.

That's what we
have with the ego. The ego comes in and acts like it is the owner of
the house when it isn't. We have to see that we can let go of the ego
and if we let go of the ego, then the true owner, the host will
manifest. That's the True Nature. Your true self-nature is not
the self-nature of an individual but the self-nature of mind itself.
When it functions it functions perfectly. But when the ego is
involved that's when things tend to mess up. Any questions so far?

He's saying which
way do I go to this mind, this ordinary mind? What is the path to get
there?

Nan-chuan
answered, "If there is any direction, it is the wrong way."

This is like
perfect classic Chan - "what the heck is he talking about?"

Chao-chu asked,
"If there is no direction, how can it be called The Way?"
Nan-chuan answered, "The Way belongs neither to knowing nor to
non-knowing. Knowing is a false feeling; non-knowing is no feeling.
The real way is achieved. It is like supreme space which is empty and
boundless. How can it be named right or wrong?"

So it's just this
moment; just this mind that we use. When we use this mind and the
mind is in this particular moment, (Gilbert hitting the bell many
times-- bell sound can be heard) this mind is capable of hearing all
sensations.

Listen again, this
time the first time I want you to listen to the bell (Gilbert hitting
the bell once-- bell sound can be heard).

This next time, I
want to forget about the sound of the bell and listen to what comes
after it. Be very, very clear in the mind and listen to what comes
after it because you miss it every single time. Let's see if you can
catch it this time. (Gilbert hitting the bell once-- twice-- thrice--
fourth time-- fifth time--). What do you think, what came after the
bell, anybody?

Student: It faded
away as if it never started in the first place.

Gilbert: How did
you know it faded away?

Student: I heard
it fade away.

Gilbert: You heard
it?

Student: Yes.

Gilbert: Was there
any kind of internal discussion about that?

Student: No.

Gilbert: Okay,
anybody else have any comments about the bell? What happened after
the bell sounded?

Student: No trace
of the bell.

Gilbert: No trace
of the bell? Was there trace of mind, Rick?

Student: Mind was
there after the bell.

Gilbert: Mind was
there?

Student: During
the bell, before the bell, after the bell.

Gilbert: Okay, did
anybody else answer the bell? Nobody had any thought about the bell?
You just were there listening to the bell? Nobody else had a thought
like, "That was a crummy hit; that was a loud one; that was a
good one?"

Student: Actually
yes; I noticed that you would hit it harder a couple of times and
also as it was fading, it seems to be just bouncing back and forth
between the ears. That was something I realized after the initial
strike of the bell and as it was fading.

Gilbert: Did
anybody like the sound of the bell? How many liked the sound of the
bell? How many of you did not like the sound of the bell? It's like
not as many hands going up for the questions than there are people in
the room. It's like either -- or. When you heard the bell, was there
any internal discussion going on in your mind about the sound of the
bell?

Student: It's not
whether I liked it or not. It's just about when the sound was ending
and when the next hit is going to be.

Gilbert: Okay, was
there something looking forward to the next bell?

Student: Yes.

Gilbert: (Asking
next student) So you heard something; you felt something from the
bell, right?

Student: Yes, it
was very calming and soothing.

Gilbert: Yes, so
it is something that when you felt it did you experience some
physical sensation of calming?

Student: Yes, I
was at ease like peaceful.

Gilbert: So you
started liking the sound of the bell. That is self. That is self but
because we're not adept at seeing self, what happens is that we miss
it. We miss when self arises.We can't catch it. That is a very, very
subtle self, "I really like it; I really, really like that
sound."

And when you like
it, all of a sudden right away you start craving it, "Hit it
again and again; that sounds good." But if I went like this and
I hit the fish (sound of wooden fish is heard), you go "that's
alright but don't do it again. (Gilbert hitting the wooden fish
again) you go, "I told you not to hit it again!!!" (Gilbert
hitting the wooden fish again) "I told you don't do it
again!!!!!"

And all of a
sudden you get upset because you don't like that sound. You want the
angelic sound of the bell (Gilbert hitting the bell), "Do it
again, Gilbert" because it sounds good. It's not about the
sound. It's about the mental impressions that arise that we take to
be "us." We don't even notice when there is separation
there that this is arising that just came into play. We think it's
there all the time waiting to hear the bell. We're always thinking
consciousness is there to hear the bell. What do you think; do you
think consciousness is always present? Good job by the way. What do
you think; is consciousness always present?

Student: I think
when the object, when you have your attention to the subject, why is
it up at the same time? I think it's connected.

Gilbert: Okay and
how are they connected?

Student: Mind.

Gilbert: Mind,
okay so but they're not always there. Do you believe your
consciousness is always present? How many of you believe your
consciousness is always there?

Student:
Consciousness or awareness?

Gilbert: How many
of you believe your consciousness is always there? Please raise your
hand. But by the way what do you think about that?

Student:
Consciousness is not apart from mind. Consciousness appears in mind.

Gilbert: How does
consciousness appear in mind?

Student:
Consciousness appears in mind when the illusory mind is separated
from mind and others.

Gilbert: The idea
is mind is your self-nature. Consciousness arises and we miss when it
also arises like what you were saying that it arises. But we miss
that moment when it arises.

Like when it came
in and you said "I like that sound." You didn't even see it
coming through because it didn't come through the front door. It came
behind the sound of the bell. You thought it was already there so
through a slight of hand, it may seem as though it was already there.
Why, because it almost always has an opinion on something. On
everything that comes into mind it has an opinion -- "I like
that; I dislike that." Sometimes you might say something else
but most times it says "I like that; I don't like it; get that
away from me; or I want more of that" or whatever it is.

And we miss that.
We miss when it actually comes up. It's like watching a magic show
and we miss when the self pops through a trap door and we thought "oh
it's there already; it must be mind." But it's not mind. It's
consciousness that is coming up to meet whatever is arising in mind.
So the sound of the bell arises in mind.

Let me show you
another sleight-of-hand of consciousness: Think of something that
pleases you. (class in consciousness mode--) Okay, you got something
that pleases you?

Student: Design
work.

Gilbert: It
pleases you; it doesn't take very long to think about it, so you zip
and right away it's there, right?

Student: Music.

Gilbert: Music,
you like music a lot right? Okay, are you a musician? So that's a
very natural thing that all of a sudden something will please you
right? And what happens is this is a little bit different than what
we had before.

Now what we have
is the raw mental construct of pleasure. Before, when we heard the
bell, the sense came in first and then we formulated an opinion about
it. Now this time, we've got just this raw desire that's there, this
pleasure and it's doing the searching. So the mind is a very clever
thing. When there's no sensory input that is very very strong it will
search through and play whatever records it likes.

And the
record it likes is music. It will play music or design work or
whatever you want that's there. It will search for it and find it
because the illusory mind, the ego has to keep itself occupied. It
has to always look for something to sequentially link to the previous
thought. When the previous thought dies out and it has no sensory
input, it starts searching there for something. It starts craving and
when you get that then it starts craving again and develops the
craving for it.

Okay, think of
something that you don't like. (class in don't like consciousness--)
Okay Lety, what do you have?

Gilbert: That's a
real random one. But the idea is that it can search and find right?
Was there anybody here that couldn't find something that you didn't
like? If you search your mind you can find it. It's not difficult;
just go for the memory bank and there it is. Right away there's the
file of didn't-like things. Sometimes it's random like sauerkraut or
injustice or it could be your next door neighbor or whoever it is
that's causing you trouble in your life.

The reason why I'm
bringing all these up is because they're consciousness. They're
brought up but they are not your mind. Where they're housed at is
mind. So mind has this big store house of different things that it
can play. So it's there and you put these things in there.

Like for instance
in your music, you have your CDs right or else where that you store
it. But do you have it in walls? Okay you probably have techno music
and other music and stuff like that because they're the things that
you tend to play. So all that stuff is perfectly stored there and
like if you have a song that is playing, it gets stuck in your head
because you brought it up in your head and it keeps playing like a
stuck record. That's never happened to anybody, right?

So but in any case
that's the way the mind works. The more you think of something the
more it keeps coming up. And when you're aware of that, you're aware
that that's consciousness. That's not mind itself so you can control
that. You can let that go. You can drop it down and not attach to the
things that arise in mind like that. You are aware of it. That's what
these Masters are talking about in these instructions. All I'm doing
is kind of giving you a modern day examples of what they're saying.
So let's go on to the next one:

When Ma-tsu
heard that Ta-mei built a hut on the mountain, he sent a monk to ask,
"What teaching did you get from Ma-tsu and why do you dwell on
this mountain?"

So Ma-tsu heard
that that one of his students was in the mountain and he sent a monk
to ask him what did he learn from Ma-tsu and why is he dwelling in
the mountain.

Ta-mei
answered, "Master Ma' told me just this mind is Buddha thus I
dwell in this place."

Ta-mei said,
"That old man makes people confused with out end. Even if he
emphasizes neither mind nor Buddha, I still believe just this mind is
Buddha."

The monk
returned and told Ma-tsu what Ta-mei had said.

Ma-tsu said,
"All of you know that Ta-mei has ripened."

What do you think
this story means?

Student: He has
made up his own mind what he believed and in that way he had ripened.

Gilbert: Anybody
know what is missing?

Student: It wasn't
his mind.

Gilbert: When she
said it wasn't his mind, she meant that his mind was clear. Mind was
clear at that moment. I understand what you're saying; it's just this
little tweaking that he understands mind. He understands it via
penetration; not just words.

So to him when he
understood what Ma-tsu was saying that it's neither mind nor Buddha,
it's still the same thing. I may say to you "no, there's no
mind," and if you say "no-mind," I might say "just
mind." And you go "huh, that doesn't make sense."

But this
particular monk Ta-mei, he's already ripen that the words the Master
said to him didn't shock him. In a way he understands it whether he
enters through just mind or no-mind, he's not clinging to it all. His
mind is clear about this. So these are the kinds of exchanges that
may happen between a Master and a student or even Dharma brothers.

I remember when I
went to Taiwan and one of the monks there that was involved in the
Chan hall he looked at me and said, "Gilbert, I've heard that
you were enlightened. Are you enlightened?"

This is a trick
question and if you go "This is true, I am enlightened,"
they will throw me out of the Chan Hall." (laughs--) There were
a lot of people that were there so he and I just played and had an
exchange between the two of us on a Chan level and people were
scratching their heads and trying to wonder what were saying to each
other because we're talking. Until finally, he told them "Pay
attention; he's talking for you. He's talking for your benefit."
He's trying to tell them that they might pick something up.

My first answer to
him was "a dream asking another dream about a dream." Then
he just smiled and then we went on from there to talk in a very
strange way but everything was pointed towards mind. And people were
looking at us and there were a lot of young university students going
"Huh!!! Huh, what does that mean?" I would go "Tell
him something like this and don't worry; just tell him what I told
you to say" because they were translating for me. And they would
go "I don't understand what you're saying." And that's when
he said "Pay attention because he's teaching you."

So this is just a
kind of test in there and the Master is checking out the student to
see if he's there; sometimes called sticking a fork in to see if he's
done or not. But anyway the whole process between a Chan teacher or
master and a student can be strange and sometimes very exasperating
to the students until they understand what is happening and they
realize "hey, this makes sense!"

This one is not an
easy one to understand. This is a very good one that I'm going to be
talking about of letting go and more towards looking at the Quantum
Physics side of reality and letting go. The response here is perfect
but the problem is that when seen from the idea of the ego, it makes
absolutely no sense. It's one of those where you go "What the
heck does that mean?" Because it doesn't give you anything to
hold on to:

Pang-yun asked,
"What man is not a companion of the 10,000 Dharmas?" Ma-tsu
answered, "If you are to drink all the water in the Hsi River in
one swallow, I will tell you." Upon hearing this, Pang-yun was
suddenly enlightened.

Does anybody
know why he was enlightened?

Student: Mind
expanded to swallow the water. When the Master said that, at
that point the student was in the perspective of self and when the
self let go, it's just mind. Mind contained all the phenomena.

Gilbert: (Clapped
both hands!!!) Mind can collapse; mind can expand. Not his mind; not
anybody's mind. No expansion; no collapse. In the moment before the
clap, the clap, after the clap, it's all the same. Instantaneously,
there's no difference, no time, no thing; it's all there; perfectly
there. Perfectly just in its place allowing things to move perfectly
in accordance with causes and conditions yet because of that, it's
silent and not moving. There's stillness in the movement simply
because it's all part of mind but there's no inside, outside, before,
after, anything. It is just what they call the Tathagatha - the
thusness of it.

And in that moment
the thusness hit him, "Phoom!" In that moment, no expanding
out, no nothing. It's just in that moment the clap of thunder hit
him. In that moment he was able to gobble up all the water of the
Ganges River; perfectly, perfectly.

I don't expect you
to understand that but I hope with inspiration in that moment, some
day it will hit you like that because in that moment, there is total
resolution of all that appears to be contradiction -- mind, no mind,
just mind, neither mind nor no mind. All these different things
that we think of "I'm thinking and if I'm thinking, how
come I'm not real?" and "who said that?" all those
things.

Everything is
perfectly reflected in that moment and the moment comes when the
person just simply put down all constructs. When the mind puts down
constructs, it's unimpeded. They asked one, "What is the
mind?" It says "Endless space that does not
interfere with the cloud." That's exactly what mind is. This
moment right now, my voice, it doesn't interfere with endless space.
It rises, falls; rises, falls.

I can shout
and literally the shout can go to the end of the universe. It doesn't
matter. I can also shout and maybe a flea wouldn't hear me but it
doesn't matter; it's just mind. It's the way it is. It is clear in
any given moment. We know that this mind is functioning and when we
sit to meditate we're clear about that. When we sit to meditate, at
that moment we know the difference between awareness - that which
notices that something has arisen in mind; and consciousness - that
which arises in mind.

Sometimes we take
the object of consciousness to be our consciousness. "What are
you thinking?" "Oh, I'm thinking about the wonderful carrot
cake I had for dinner." That's arising in the mind. It's not
here; if it was, I'd be able to share it with all of you. But it's
arising in mind and the consciousness is hiding behind the image of
the carrot cake and the taste of the carrot cake and all these
different things.

We take that to be
our functioning but we don't realize that had there not been for that
carrot cake, none of that consciousness would have arisen. But now,
taste in that carrot cake arises on its own looking for a carrot
cake. And we take that to be our mind but actually it's our
conscious.

Remember I talked
to you that "Fools turn mind into consciousness; sages return
consciousness to mind." It is in this way we that we see.
It's very important when we sit to meditate that we're clear that
whatever's arising in the mind is consciousness. It's ultimately
empty because it arises and falls; it arises and falls just like the
mind that enables those things to arise within it.

Where are those
thoughts projected on to?

Student: Mind.

Gilbert: Mind; the
thoughts are projected in mind. They are not separate from mind. It
is just as if there was a bubble on a stream and you might have
caught a reflection. That reflection is nevertheless mind. It appears
nowhere else but in mind.

When we see things
in this way, we're clear about it. It's very important for us when we
practice in meditation that we have this viewpoint to see clearly --
oh, consciousness-- let it go, let it go, let it go. Don't worry
about consciousness. Why, because it gets frustrating after a while
when we have a scattered mind. Especially when the first start our
practice we get scattered mind and we get frustrated because there
are so many thoughts arising in the mind like a popcorn machine of
thoughts.

But if we realize
they're naturally there and we put them there. If I'm going to sit
there to meditate, music is going to come up in my head. And if I
don't think of a particular tune, the tunes will come up anyway or
something will come up. And you're sitting there and meditating, all
of a sudden something a tune comes up, "Pa-pap-pa-pap-pa-pap"
And you go, "I have to remember that so I can write it down."
And all of a sudden you're off your method.

Consciousness is
very clever. Consciousness always wants to perpetuate itself. It's
always looking for a hook to hook itself into. And it gets nervous if
it's not there. And we don't feel comfortable because we're not used
to seeing quietness. We're always used to being in a cacophony of
sound and images and impressions. We're not used to having this very
quiet room. We're so caught up in the middle of all of these
impressions and images, sensations, feeling discriminations, we can't
step back from them and go, "Wait a second, where did all these
stuff come from?"

When mind steps
back mind and becomes aware of all these things. As it does that and
not attach to anything that's in the room, it sees perfectly clear
why everything is in the room; where people are sitting and all the
things that happen, why people sit in the same place or why they sit
here. Why do we sit where we sit? It's because we're creatures of
habit that's why you sit there. Next week you'll probably try to
prove me wrong but you're a creature of habit. People have their
little set places and they sit.

It's natural. All
of these things are perfectly natural in terms of how they are. We
can't make sense of it because we're right in the thick of it. But
once we move away from it then the mind is very clear and it can
recognize consciousness arising. Any questions about that? This is
very important. When we sit to meditate, it's going to help you to
counteract all the images that are arising in mind. You don't have to
swat them out like flies. You just simply have to stay with the
method to let them go.